Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1887-11-17

while not going deeply into the philosophy
of the causes or tn reas'as III the causes.
that combine To prsliiet given effect. il
points out those cius = and their relation
to he effect.
In the earliest as.~ uf history stpric. of
F the supernatural were usYally accept n n,
credible and all ne,-irly history ii nations
was envelope,l in II cloud al legend. The
first efforts Of the critics to- explain these
myths was by the supposition that the
stories were distortions of actual occur
rencrs. another theory regarded all legend
AIRY fables as perverons of IA really vrrn-
cpus archtype. Thus. Hercules was to be
identified with sampson. Both these views
are nov exploded and legends, whether
/ their origin bc referred to nature or i'm
asination are regarded as purely Grticiuus
I The result oi the application oi this theory
/. has been to clear history of innum .rablr
! popular legends and t., i.-stalcirnt history
/ IN particular of ipr ui la''i-' iii lirI'ies h.
/ sides destroying pue sr"st -,urc' of error
in the construct - -; the r,e- :. account
for what never tnpk piicr Thn sillv of
folk lore has n'sp .li-rr,tlit ri many acrlr-
renccs not in themselves Incredible; for
instance tn story ~ TEL shlufi,.g the
apple fron ths n-i of hi= son l,iS.. it,
claim to rr' ,ifty "s spoI ~ it H. shown
to be II le- al O., iin "a among The nations
of the AryAn rar,'. fbu.iI with ai its prin-
cipal feature. il p'rsii in npf'ry in Danish
and Icelahdic history nnd j., ~ dish snng
and only modified to suit Swiss circ mn
stances.
Let me not he understood as sayinrthat
none of the so-called myths and legends
are true or that n large portion %: them
can be proved to he ials,. hut ~ many of
them can he proved to he So. that good
judgment has compelled the historians to
reject all those whirh have not rs II foun-
dation elements of probability. Iiy apply
ing the formula of Hume. for instance. We
may Tor ourselves be able to determine the
truth or fal~ity of many Of the fables that
have come Ia rs in the garb Of history.
His formula il this ''lnvariible experience
is in favor of the uniformity Of nature.
while il is not in favor of the inftlbility Of
human testimony, henc' there tx la all
eases a greater probability of the ialsity
of the testimony as to the occurrence in
question than of the violation of II law uf
nature thereby implied
During recent times authors have at
tempted to drduc' from the pheaon-na
attending revolutions in human affairs tn,
principals which regulate the origin and
development of society. This i. the 80
called Philosophy of History. but these
authors are as yet unable to agree a- 10
what these principles are. The maxim.
that the grand determining cause. of
history are general laws" which evrn the
greatest genilises. men who are usually
accredited with making history. obey Will.
they seem to control is generally accepted
but one conceives this principle to repre-
sen; the progress pf the unvrrs, il self from
n condition of chaos to one 81 s'lf e ~
sciousnrss; another on the cont rary, rx-
plains history ns IN, striving back of man.
kind to II lost condition oi or .nal blessed
ness. One looks to external nature one
Ia phvsicil causes. whilr still nloth,r
enunciates the lort rinc os three STAGES oI
H.. +
physical and the positive, for tht principle
underlying those laws.
This branch of history H. as vet in i,S
childhood and much good may GONE frna,
ifs future development. bnt as the subject
is largely u met iphysiral one W. cannot
expect the rapid progress that we.shnuhi
look for II IL w"ra simflv srirhiiii. To
princiDal danger from such sD'ru'aiions IL
their Tendency To suhoriiuntr individual
actor alto,nther to ."n raj laws aud ~
overlook the differences IN human char
acter rs agencies in shtpint thn ,lr-,inirS
ri nations. The American and Frrnc',
revolutions were NO doubt equally unv.
ifabl', but IN the prr-rnt state Of our
knowledye No satisfactory rrasn1 can u
given why one might not as vell as IA
other have brought forth n Washu,'or On.
Russia owes her nres mt npsi.ipn tn p,trr
the Great aud 'rgssn ~ Fr,.lrrick but
no rue r'n Ia deducted from this science
To show that either ~ thou must hav,.
boon u raniIs but wemavnrrept fhet triinis m
that the emergency nlwavs produces u
man equal ~ tn oceasion as arrpunfiu!
for their pr'.~enrn evnn ii the 'riIrisn has
not been srirntii"allv arr.,iI "A rnr
Patrick Henry said in the Nr tiu, Iaus,
~ burgess That 1--WE have no way of know
ing ia" iutnrr but bv thr pas'." Thi- j.
absolutely true Tor man aithoush y noitrr
animal iilnn the brutes has M; th.r IN
I'll L.
ab'" IN u limited way - kpow the f,ltlr,.
but (" man IN" knnwle,ler Thus dnrivnd j.
denied. "" e,nnpt know what win taia
n'ar" ~ the fiiir" -" rln oaiv stiruisr
and that his surnositi1n. rirv h, -..finrr'
ther must y" founded on his nrn ar tlln
"So 'ri"nr"s ri Others ap6 fer the tppNl-
ci - of the evprrirnras ~ 9TH ~. 10 must
have rnrpurse 10 hist arv thor fore ~
there j. no -iuhv mnr.. drlirhtfll - tharr
i none more n"ressarv than history rSp,r-
iallv ~ ~" ritiy'ns nf u fro state The
constitution Of - dom prr4tir r,nlilir
lssuminr - ~ iniispan-ih', condition ~
its w"rl;i7. th1t rv"rv citiz.n S'lall take
~ ipte'li 'enf int"-rst IN public s,filir-
irunps"S the study ns history ~ = dntv
incuuhen' upon al for IL = inppsS;l,'e -
form cprraft IN uirnept of pi"-ani rrru-n-
stances without the rl,.irs ~ conn ,-is N
with the past supplied bv - knovlrd!, of
hi4,arY
Tho student must boar ~ mind ,la, n
sirh knowla.l.e is not equally u-asdh The
american ritiz ~ will derry hat ~ I, pr.r-
tir'l bnowlntl," 'rpm monar-iiss aud Is
poiisn- of 'll, pros-af nr 80 ,nrinn, titnas.
" shnu'i chi"Hr ~ snilii~iz, vi ins y VIII
the hiStnr" 81 f-t.s = 80 hi ava count r,-
b'fnrn thpt of ~ a,tars. than ,h.f .,r
England frnn which il s,rn,tr. AL from
whose institutions nur n.vu ara Iarive'i !.
'htn that oi ar'"r" ari RnHus ~ "a.
. q g f,.,.,